The hostel was commissioned by the
Community of the Resurrection (CR). In 1903 CR had founded the
College of the Resurrection to train men for the Anglican priesthood. Part of the training was undertaken at
Leeds University and CR looked for suitable accommodation for their students. Two existing buildings at numbers 21 and 23 Springfield Mount was identified and acquired by CR and began lodging students in 1904. In 1907 CR began an appeal for funds to build a new hostel on the Springfield Mount site. Meetings seeking support for the hostel were frequently disrupted by
John Kensit and members of the
Protestant Truth Society who objected to the
Anglo-Catholicism monasticism of CR, meetings targeted included a meeting at
Church House, Westminster addressed by
Randall Davidson, then
Archbishop of Canterbury. Despite the interruptions the funds were raised and the existing buildings were demolished. CR employed
Temple Moore to design the new building which could accommodate 36 students. The new building was officially opened on 23 April 1910 by Lady
Lucy Cavendish. Further extensions to the hostel were made after the
First World War and it was not until 18 October 1928 that the final accommodation wing and chapel were opened, the hostel now providing accommodation for 55 students. At the opening ceremony the
Bishop of Ripon,
Edward Burroughs caused controversy when he described modern universities such as Leeds as "counterfeit presentations" when compared to the "real thing(s)" of Oxford and Cambridge. His comments denounced by others at the ceremony, Burroughs was forced to withdraw his words in a statement to the press the following week. Staff at the hostel in 1953 comprised a warden, sub-warden and a tutor from CR's Mirfield community. In 1976 CR closed the hostel and sold the building to Leeds University who converted it from accommodation to an
adult education centre. In turn, the University sold the building on to a private company, Springfield Mount Estates, who converted the building back to student accommodation in 2007. ==Architecture==